Trip Report 2.0 - Feb 20 2009 (BLHSON)

Photos from our Learning Technology Readiness Assessment @ BLHSON.

Here's a direct link to the BLHSON set on Flickr, just in case you don't have Flash.

Trip Report 2.0 - Feb 19 2009 (Lobatse)

Photos from our Learning Technology Readiness Assessment @ Lobatse.

Here's a direct link to the Lobatse set on Flickr, just in case you don't have Flash.

Trip Report 2.0 - Feb 18 2009 (Serowe)

Photos from our Learning Technology Readiness Assessment @ Serowe.

Here's a direct link to the Serowe set on Flickr, just in case you don't have Flash.

Trip Report 2.0 - Feb 17 2009 (Gaborone)

Photos from our Learning Technology Readiness Assessment @ Gaborone.

Here's a direct link to the Gaborone set on Flickr, just in case you don't have Flash.

Trip Report 2.0 - Feb 16 2009 (Francistown)

Photos from our Learning Technology Readiness Assessment @ Francistown.

Here's a direct link to the Francistown set on Flickr, just in case you don't have Flash.

What's your ideal life curriculum?

A few days ago I started enumerating a list of competencies that I thought were crucial to my job (i.e. core competencies). But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that these were general competencies that were required to be successful in life. Over lunch yesterday, Peter Johnson & I talked about this a bit more and what follows is the list we came up with.

• Accept things you can't change
• Get along with others
• Accept & incorporate constructive feedback
• Ask the right questions
• Find, analyze & synthesize information
• Understand & describe dynamic and interconnected (i.e. complex) systems
• Take care of your body, mind & soul
• Be creative & imaginative
• Explore & experiment
• Design (graphic, product, instructional, software - whatever)
  
• Learn from your experiences (successes & failures)
• Write or tell a good story
• Identify needs and opportunities
• Know how to learn and how to teach
  

Feel free to add more in the comments below!

Jhpiego Learning Ecosystem

I have been envisioning this Jhpiego "learning ecosystem" for some time now but was only recently inspired to actually document it while Peter Johnson, our Director of Global Learning (and my boss!), & I were in transit from South Africa to Botswana last week.

As you can see, there is a significant component for the support of informal learning. I joked with Peter that the reason there is so much more under the "Informal" column is that it accounts for most learning :P Well, I've read many times that informal learning can account for up to 80% of learning (e.g. see Marcia Conner's Informal Learning & Jay Cross' Informal Learning: A Sound Investment) but I'm still looking for the hard data. If you know where to find it, let me know!

BTW, I wonder if there are any parallels between this & what Jay Cross & friends are calling Learnscape. Seems like there might be.

Trip Report 2.0 - Feb 13 2009 (KSDACON)

Photos from our Learning Technology Readiness Assessment @ Kanye Seventh Day Adventist College of Nursing.

Here's a direct link to the KSDACON set on Flickr, just in case you don't have Flash.

Trip Report 2.0 - Feb 12 2009 (Molepolole)

Photos from our Learning Technology Readiness Assessment @ Molepolole.

Here's a direct link to the Molepolole set on Flickr, just in case you don't have Flash.

Trip Report 2.0 - Feb 12 2009 (DRMSON)

Photos from our Learning Technology Readiness Assessment @ Deborah Retief Memorial School of Nursing.

Here's a direct link to the DRMSON set on Flickr, just in case you don't have Flash.

Open software layers

This morning, while flying from Jo-burg to Cape Town, I was reading through the South African government's strategy on free & open source software (Thanks, Derek Keats, for the link). At one point there is a discussion about the difference between FOSS and proprietary systems that implement standards: the former being ultimately flexible, the latter being a guard against vendor lock-in. I'd like to add two more layers to the stack, proprietary systems developed using open source tools (e.g. a Java application served via Apache & connected to a MySQL database) and those that provide an OpenAPI. So, maybe the new stack looks something like this...

• FOSS
• OpenAPI
• Open standards-supporting
• Open source-based

Those systems that provide an OpenAPI may not be exposing their "guts" (a technical term :P) but are making it possible to interact with it and develop new tools on top of it (e.g. Twitter & the many Twitter-based tools that have sprung up), while those proprietary systems based on open source tools can reduce some of the up-front cost associated with traditional proprietary software but ultimately do not provide the benefits one normally associates with FOSS to the end-user.

Do these new layers add any value by being integrated with the original two?

Trip Report 2.0 - 4 Dec 2009 (Mobile Learning & the Mobile Landscape)

Now this is cool! These are pictures of Mukota, the IT specialist in the Jhpiego/Zambia office, accessing on-line learning content using his phone. We didn't have time to go through the entire module - he's a very busy man, cleaning up viruses, solving hardware problems & such - but we did progress through a number of screens (that included some simple graphics) and even answered a few assessment items.

BTW, the phone he is using was actually purchased, along with 99 others, for use specifically in another project (in partnership w/POC-IT, the development & distribution of a digital version of the Zambian HIV/AIDS guidelines) but there's no reason it can't serve multiple purposes :) These phones are not widely available here, or at least aren't very popular, but the POC-IT software currently only runs on PalmOS devices.

While I'm at it, I might as well document some other things I learned from Mukota about the mobile environment here in Zambia...

First, there are two main providers: Zain (Celtel) & MTN. There is a third, less popular provider called Cell-Z. They all provide 3G service (which was first introduced in 2007) but only the first two offer data access. Mukota estimates that national coverage is somewhere around 60% of the geography.

Interestingly, the data access is used mostly to provide Internet access for PC's via a USB device into which the SIM card is inserted - we've used similar devices in Mozambique - because fixed-line broadband acccess is prohibitively expensive. In fact, Jhpiego apparently gives these devices to its technical staff when they travel to the field because it's the most reliable way of accessing the Internet (they can't be sure that the hotels they're staying in will have access or that there will be an Internet cafe nearby).

The most popular handset brands? Nokia (especially the Nseries) & Samsung. Apparently, the Sony-Ericssons are gaining ground, though. And there are same Blackberrys around, too.

Trip Report 2.0 - 2 Feb 2009 (Training Works!)

So, I'm headed to Zambia for a week to provide learning technology technical assistance for two projects: one focusing on male circumcision and the other on antiretroviral therapy. And it just wouldn't be right if I didn't run into someone who was working in the same field (like during my last trip to Ethiopia) or had some connection to Jhpiego. Well, it was the latter this time.

At some point, Maya (my M&E coworker) & I were boarding a plane (I guess it was the one to Zambia) and a girl in front of us who overheard our conversation turned to ask what we were going to be doing. We mentioned that we worked for an NGO at which point she asked, "Which one?" Maya said "Jhpiego," at which point I expected the blank stare of unfamiliarity I get 95% of the time.

But this was one of the 5%. The girl responded, "Oh, I'm heading to Zambia to facilitate an IUD training and I'm using some Jhpiego materials." I just had to know which ones. Working in the Global Learning department, I've become familiar with all sorts of materials that we've developed. She couldn't show me right away (because all of her things were packed away in her carry-on) but I made sure to remember to ask her once we got to Lusaka.

BTW, her name is Pratima but, silly me, I forgot to ask who she works with :P I'll make sure to get that info when I ser her next.

So, what did she have? Training Works. Check it out...

I thought that was pretty cool :) And I imagine that my Jhpiego colleagues will be pretty happy to see that our materials are being put to good use.